Record Label Pays Dearly To Dismiss Mariah Carey

In one of the most spectacular and swift reversals of fortune in the entertainment industry, EMI Records said yesterday that it had ended its agreement with Mariah Carey, who has had more No. 1 songs than any musical artist except Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

EMI signed Ms. Carey only last April to one of the music industry's most lucrative contracts, guaranteeing a reported $80 million for five albums.

But after disappointing sales of the first album Ms. Carey delivered, ''Glitter,'' released last fall, EMI's Virgin Records division decided to cut its losses. It will pay Ms. Carey $28 million to free itself from the high costs of producing and promoting any more albums, the company said.

The cancellation was the latest setback for Ms. Carey, the 31-year-old singer who has battled highly publicized emotional problems in the last year, including a breakdown that led to a stay at a rehabilition center.

Her debut film, also titled ''Glitter,'' bombed on its release. Her romance with a popular Latin singer collapsed. And the girlish charm that captivated fans and critics a decade ago hardened in recent interviews as she cast aspersions on rival performers.

Ms. Carey's dizzying trajectory from the Long Island suburbs to pop superstardom, and now back a few steps, is not merely a fable about the powers and detractions of fame. EMI's decision to part ways with Ms. Carey reflects the troubles in the recording industry at large, which is battling dwindling compact disc sales, the digitized universe of songs available on the Internet and increasingly demanding stars.

In an interview yesterday from Arizona, Ms. Carey, who is scheduled to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, sounded rested, though her comments were not uncombative.

She quoted a lyric from a rap group, A Tribe Called Quest, to explain her reaction to being dropped by EMI.

''It goes like this,'' she said. ''Something like, 'Industry Rule No. 480: Record company people are shady.'

''Jobs change, and people change positions,'' she added. ''I am looking forward to recording a new album, and making a new movie.''

Alain Levy, the executive who made the decision to release Ms. Carey, took over as head of EMI's record division in October with a reputation as a cost-cutter. He promptly fired Nancy Berry, who had brought Ms. Carey over from her previous label, Sony Records, with the now-terminated deal. It was on a par with the $80 million that R.E.M. received for five records from Warner Brothers in 1996 and the $100 million that Whitney Houston reportedly got for six albums from Arista Records last August.

Last month, The Los Angeles Times reported that EMI had plans to cancel the contract. EMI ''made a decision to cut their losses and run,'' said Kingsley Wilson, an analyst with Investec Henderson Crosthwaite.

Sales of the ''Glitter'' album, which was released on Sept. 11, have reached only 500,000 copies in the United States, according to SoundScan, which measures music industry sales -- a paltry amount compared to the average 8 million for each of Ms. Carey's nine previous albums. Her 1993 album, ''Music Box,'' sold 23 million worldwide.

Industry experts attributed the poor showing to several factors. For one thing, ''Glitter'' was a soundtrack album for a disappointing film and -- more crucially -- it signaled a defection by Ms. Carey's teenager fan base to bolder, brasher performers like Britney Spears and 'N Sync.

Ms. Carey was an 18-year-old backup singer when she wangled an invitation to a Columbia Records party and thrust her demonstration tape into the hands of Thomas D. Mottola, a Sony Records executive. In a story now part of industry lore, Mr. Mottola played the tape in his car and, astonished by the range of Ms. Carey's voice, returned to the party to find her, because the tape lacked her name or phone number.

Mr. Mottola became the curator of Ms. Carey's career and her personal life. They were married in 1993 in a lavish ceremony and built an estate in Bedford, N.Y. Mr. Mottola shaped Ms. Carey into a hit machine, providing advice on wardrobe and makeup, a friend of Ms. Carey said.

The marriage dissolved in 1998 and had consequences for her career as well. Ms. Carey's manager at the time, Randy Hoffman, is a close friend to Mr. Mottola and Ms. Carey left his management company. She began to protest that Sony was taking too large a chunk of her money. Ms. Carey cannot be accused of not working hard for her money. Last July, she complained to her new manager that she was exhausted at the end of a 14-day, seven-city tour to publicize the movie ''Glitter,'' a tale about a young woman from the suburbs who becomes a world-famous pop star overnight and is swept up into the frenzy of fame.

Earlier in the year, she broke off a two-year relationship with the Latin pop singer Luís Miguel, and her fatigue began to manifest itself publicly. During an interview on MTV's ''Total Request Live'' in July, she behaved erratically, asking the host, Carson Daly, to kidnap her, then diverging into a monologue about therapy. The unnerved Mr. Daly announced, ''Ladies and gentlemen, Mariah Carey has lost her mind.''

Six days later, Ms. Carey posted a message on her Web site to her fans. ''I don't know what's going on with my life,'' she wrote. ''And so I don't really feel like I should be doing music right now.''

She checked into Silver Hill, a rehabilition facility in New Canaan, Conn., the next day amid a blur of headlines. Cindi Berger, her spokeswoman, said Ms. Carey had a breakdown because she was exhausted.

''She was working nonstop,'' Ms. Berger said, mixing the album for ''Glitter,'' conducting a world tour to promote the movie, and filming her first music video for Virgin. ''It all converged, and she did everything without a day off.''

In December, the irregular behavior continued. On an episode of ''MTV Cribs,'' a program in which pop stars tour their homes for the camera, she hopped into the bathtub, and declaimed from the bubbles that it was the place she hid from her ''fans,'' stressing the word in a tone some viewers regarded as hostile.

Mario Buatta, the interior decorator who made over Ms. Carey's lower Manhattan triplex, recalled that during the time she was recording the ''Glitter'' album, they were sitting at the kitchen table and she was listening to the soundtrack.

''She heard two notes that she didn't like, and she jumped up and got on the next plane to Los Angeles, re-recorded them and was back the next day,'' he said. ''She just got totally exhausted from overwork.''

EMI, in addition to its $28 million severance payment, had paid Ms. Carey $21 million in April when the contract was signed, Marshall B. Grossman, a lawyer for her, said. Thus, the singer earned almost $25 for each ''Glitter'' CD sold to date.

After factoring in the estimated millions of dollars needed to promote a major album by a star like Ms. Carey, EMI figured it would do better to cut her loose.

EMI's high-profile split with Ms. Carey may be unprecedented in scope for a music label, but analysts agree it could be a portent. The industry has come under attack for failing to appeal to disaffected consumers who are buying fewer CD's and are attracted to renegade online recording services.

Last year was one of the worst ever for the industry; overall music sales, including CD's, slipped 5 percent. As a result, executives are now slashing costs and rethinking old habits, including the support of high-priced talent that does not deliver quick hits.

Though the ''Glitter'' album and movie were widely perceived as failures, that does not necessarily spell the end of Ms. Carey's successes. She is starring with Mira Sorvino in a movie called ''Wise Girls,'' which received favorable reviews at the recent Sundance Film Festival. Additionally, like Ms. Houston, she has usually been able to overcome personal problems and rumors of her commercial demise with a new stream of hits.

Ms. Carey said yesterday that she could weather the storm of negative stories. For example, she said, the notion she was more competitive with other female singers was largely a media mischaracterization.

''You know, if you're not acting catty with other women,'' she said, ''then you have to be forlorn and miserable and waiting for your long-lost love to rescue you.'' She said she almost laughed when she recently saw an unsmiling picture of herself in The National Enquirer along with a caption about her moping.

''Because I'm not beaming with a radiant smile every two minutes, then I'm lonely and waiting for my hero,'' she said. ''Well, guess what? I'm not waiting for my hero. I'm my own hero. That's my job.''

Executives at several music companies said that they would be willing to talk with Ms. Carey, but that because of the dustup at EMI and the failure of ''Glitter'' they would approach any negotiations warily. ''The question is, Is she past her expiration date?'' one executive said.

Still, most analysts believed another label would sign Ms. Carey if the right price could be struck.

''Whoever gets her next could make a brilliant move,'' Michael Nathanson, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said. ''All she has to do is go on Oprah or Barbara Walters and claim repentance. America loves a comeback story.''